If you are looking to add an alluring ingredient to your handmade cold process soaps, wine is one way to go.

Wine in Soaps?

Yes, it is true. Wine is used in a variety of ways- cooking, drinking, and now even for body care. Because wine is made from grapes, wine adds an extra aspect of antioxidants and rich nutrients to your product. And, besides the skin loving benefits, wine also offers a highly luxurious lather, rich in creamy bubbles to your finished soap bars.

Soaping with Wine

Please Note: Soaping with wine is a more advanced process. Therefore, if you are new to soaping, you may want to give this recipe a try once you are completely comfortable with the soaping process and have a few cold process soap batches under your belt.

After making several recipes involving unique ingredients in cold process soap, we decided that we were ready to give the addition of wine a try. Just like with beer soap, the extra ingredient of wine is not something that can be taken lightly or on a whim.

Before cold process soaping with wine, there are proper steps that need to be taken.

The first step in preparing your wine is the simmer. This step is completed by placing the wine into a pot. Then, on the stovetop and stirring occasionally, simmer the wine for 30-40 minutes. Then, the final step in prepping the wine is the freeze. Once the wine is back to room temperature, carefully place the wine in an empty ice cube tray. Finally, place the ice cube tray into the freezer and freeze overnight.
Once the wine is frozen, it is now ready for soaping use.

For this recipe, the wine is used as half of the water amount.

Now, when adding the lye to the frozen wine/water, the best precaution to take (besides the regular safety gear and steps) is to mix this portion of the recipe in a deep bowl or pitcher in the sink. This way, if there is any chance of a volcano effect taking place the sink will minimize the affected area.
The rest of the soaping recipe steps take place as normal.

And, that was all we were prepared for. However, once the batter was poured into the mold, it decided that it was going to wail a final surprise.

The two pound batch that we were testing was perfectly peaked with gorgeous crests both big and small. The color of the batter was perfect. Everything seemed to be great. When suddenly out of nowhere the batter started to move as if it had taken on a life of its own. Next, the batter started to spat and bubble. And, what we conceived was a final battle of disobedience, the soap batter came oozing out of the middle of the mold.

All we could do was take our spatulas and work as fast as we could to try to get the batter back into the mold. The batter seemed to be unruly. We thought for sure this batch was done for. It did take some time, but about 30 minutes after the pour, the batter had settled. We finally assumed the “drunk had fallen asleep.”

What had happened:

After reviewing our recipe, our steps, and the outcome of what had happened we found the problem. Cold Process Soaping with a wine that has a high sugar content speeds up gel. That is what caused the bubbling and spatting in the batter. A word to the wise is to prepare for this to occur by safe guarding the area where your molds lay. When using wine in your soap recipes, we suggest using a wine with a low sugar content.

In the End:

Soaping with wine was quite an experience but totally worth the extra effort! The color of the bars is a perfect wine hue. The lather of the soap bar is luxurious and creamy. This recipe, even with its unruliness, was a win.

Since the wine is added as half the water portion of the recipe, you can use any of your favorite cold process soap recipes. However, if you would like a Wine Cold Process Soap Recipe, Natures Garden has one listed under their free recipes and classes section of their website. Or, you can simply click here to see the 4 pound Wine Soap Recipe.